


I'm a Soul Man

by Mozzarella



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, Soldier Enhancement Program, Soldier Enhancement Program Era, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 08:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13142814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mozzarella/pseuds/Mozzarella
Summary: Jack figured that even without the enhancements, Gabriel Reyes would still be goddamn terrifying.He was cold but not cruel, nothing close to nice but never unfair.He was so unlike Jack in every way, except that they were both good soldiers.So clearly the universe was trying to fuck with him, because there was no apparent reason that Jack Morrison could see that explained Gabriel Reyes being his soulmate.





	I'm a Soul Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alexiabladen](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=alexiabladen).



> R76 Gift Exchange Entry for alexiabladen on tumblr :) Ending's a bit hurried, but hope y'all enjoy

Jack Morrison had never been one for the sidelines, but even he had to acclimate to the SEP, being one of its newer recruits and coming from Bloomington, Indiana alone where most of the lot seemed to have at least one or two friends from their own home states.

He was welcomed readily enough, with the ribbing one would expect from soldiers where friendship was formed under more duress than anywhere else Jack had ever been, where they wanted to test you as much as befriend you.

He used to be the biggest name in his school. He used to be the guy everybody had their eyes on. He'd be that again, but for now, he had to keep an ear out and play it safe.

Despite the many different groups that had settled into the program, every recruit taken within a year of him all seemed to agree on the same thing—their SO, who'd survived the testing a couple dozen numbers before them, was a beast.

Gabriel Reyes was a terrifying presence, his eyes so sharp they could bore into your soul and features so hard nobody dared question him. Jack had seen one man who tried, who ended up crumpled to the floor with a broken nose after he questioned Reyes' rank.

Jack figured that even without the enhancements, Gabriel Reyes would still be goddamn terrifying.

He was cold but not cruel, nothing close to nice but never unfair.

He was so unlike Jack in every way, except that they were both good soldiers.  
  


So clearly the universe was trying to fuck with him, because there was no apparent reason that Jack Morrison could see that explained Gabriel Reyes being his soulmate.

 

* * *

 

What was worse than finding out your terrifying SO was your soulmate was having your peers find out before you, and Jack Morrison could feel the blush he tried to hide ruddying his cheeks when Chavez brought it up, crowing about it to anybody who would listen that farmboy Jack was Reyes' soulmate.

“The hell do you mean, Chavez?” Jack snapped, surprising the others, who were used to his general good humor. 

“What, you don't know?” Chavez said, sounding surprised, before pointing to her wrist in the same place Jack had his mark. “Shit, Morrison, everybody who's anybody knows about Reyes' soul mark. Back of his neck. Doesn't hide it much. We've all been wondering what kind of unlucky bastard would be soulmates with the beast. Figures it'd be you, golden boy.” 

Reese sniggered from where he sat to Jack's left. “Reyes is gonna eat you alive, Jackie,” he said.

Jack pursed his lips at that, squared his jaw, and said in the most cocksure voice he could manage, “We'll see about that,” to the challenging “ooooh”s of his peers.

 

* * *

 

The one thing Jack learned about his peers in the military was that they could gossip worse than his classmates from his high school. Reyes always had one eye or ear open to the gossip, had this uncanny ability to always be around to hear the worst of the rumors, so Jack fully expected him to hear news of  _his own soulmate_ numbering in the ranks of those he was training. He expected Reyes to single him out, imagined him calling Jack aside to look at the mark on his wrist. Maybe even smile that shark smile of his, the one that always spelled trouble when it came out during the worst of their runs, whisper in Jack's ear about touching their marks, initiate a bond. 

Being bonded was something Jack had dreamt about since he was a kid, imagining a soulmate who was sweet and kid and attentive, who'd see how special he was, who knew he was meant for greater things.

Jack Morrison, more than anything else in the world, wanted somebody to  _see_ him. To see what he could be. To pay attention to him, even if he was just a kid from Indiana, even if others didn't see right off that he could be better. 

So the fact that, after three weeks of everyone and their cousin figuring out that Morrison and Reyes were soulmates with matching marks, Reyes did  _absolutely nothing_ to address it, really boiled Jack's blood. 

“What the fuck,” Jack muttered under his breath on a twentieth push-up, as Reyes shouted (calmly, and who the hell shouted calmly anyway?) at them to get to fifty without stopping or they'd have to do twice that, not bothering to stop by Jack when he walked past or even throw him a sideways glance, even when Jack had made the extremely life changing decision to now expose his mark for all (but really, for Reyes) to see. 

“What the fuck,” Jack muttered when he finished his run first and fastest, and all he got was a bland “Good work, Morrison,” before Reyes went back to drilling the other recruits. 

“What the fuuuuuuck,” Jack moaned into his pillow after another day of barely getting the bare minimum of acknowledgment anybody might get from an SO and not the one you'd be spending the rest of your life with. 

“Maybe he doesn't want a soulmate,” Chavez suggested, and Jack tried not to show how much the idea hurt him. Clearly, it didn't work, because Chavez took one look at his face and softened. “I mean, you're a great guy, Jack. Reyes thinks so, same as anyone. Anyone,” she amended, rolling her eyes in the direction of Reese and his goon squad, “with half a brain and working eyes, anyway. But who knows? Maybe he's at a point in his life where having a soulmate just isn't in the cards. He might never make the first move just because you're flashing your mark at him.” 

Jack's face heated, and he dropped it into his folded arms in defeat. “If he doesn't want me, I can't force him to—”

“Whoa, whoa, who said anything about forcing? It takes two to tango, and the universe doesn't say _this one's yours forever_ if it isn't working out. It's not permanent until you make it permanent, Jack,” Chavez said. “Geez, you're making me den mother, farmboy. Just talk to the guy. Maybe he's got hangups about being your superior officer and isn't making a move out of propriety. You never know.” 

“But bonds take precedent over ranks—”

“Officially, yeah. But personally? Well, I don't know Reyes well enough to know that. Nobody does. But if anybody could take a crack at that stone face,” Chavez said, shrugging, “it'll be you and your movie-star jawline.”   
  


* * *

 

Even with his usual confident half smile plastered on, Jack was a nervous wreck when he walked up to Reyes' quarters on base. Even now, he had no idea what to say, and all his usual lines to impress others seemed air-headed and humiliating, the kind of high school BS somebody like Reyes would crush under the heavy heel of his clomping boots.

He knocked before he could talk himself out of it, and the fake smile dropped off his face immediately when Reyes opened the door, looking his usual dour self, the effect of his seemingly default glare only softened by the hair on his head which Jack couldn't remember ever seeing. He'd always assumed Reyes was bald under the cap, but no—his curls were just short enough to be regulation, but long enough to look soft on top of his head.

“Um,” Jack began, and Reyes sighed the sigh of the long-suffering. 

“What do you want, Morrison?” he said, though his usual hard tone just sounded tired, so at least he wasn't mad(der than usual). 

“Sorry, I just...” Jack huffed, cursing himself for forgetting how to keep a conversation up for once in his life. He always knew what to say—his charisma had carried him through most of his life where sheer physical prowess couldn't, but right now, in front of his soulmate, a man he'd technically been dreaming of for years, he just couldn't string together two words. 

For lack of anything of substance to say, Jack raised his mark to a level Reyes could see. An expression flashed briefly over Reyes' face, and if Jack hadn't been paying attention, he would have missed it—what looked like wistfulness, warmth, the same look Jack knew he got back when he wished he could find his soulmate already.

“Yeah, I know,” Reyes said, his usual sharp tone faltering ever so slightly. 

“Well I _have_ been flashing it in front of you for weeks,” Jack joked, but even that fell flat when Reyes looked—wow, he looked ashamed, of all things. “I thought maybe... I was waiting for you to say something.” 

“What do you want me to say?” Reyes said, and Jack's eyes widened. He didn't know what he wanted, really, but even a bit of acknowledgment of their status wouldn't have been remiss. 

“I just... I've wanted... Soul mates are special,” Jack said, cringing. “To me, especially. And I've been wanting to meet my soul mate since I got my mark. I wondered what they'd be like, and when Ch—when the others told me our marks matched I got really exc—uh, I thought maybe we could...” 

Reyes scoffed, and it wasn't a pleasant sound. “Must've been an upset to find out your soulmate's the guy who's been terrorizing you since you got here.”

“Well it's not what I expected, but—”

“You don't want me.” 

Jack balked. “What?”

“I said,” Reyes said, gaining back his usual steel. “You don't want me. You're scared of me, same as all the others here. It works for me, it keeps as many people alive as possible. If they're scared of me, they learn. It doesn't afford me the best social life, but it's no skin off my nose, really. You've been a good soldier, Jack, one of the best, with more conditioning. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm a beast to you and everybody else, and I didn't figure you'd want the bogeyman for a soulmate.” 

“Oh fuck you,” Jack said before he could stop himself, and only barely stopped himself from covering his mouth with his hands like a scandalized housewife. Reyes looked surprised, something that would have been hilarious under other circumstances. “Don't tell me what I want and don't want, Reyes. And yeah, we're scared of you because you're the most insane taskmaster we've ever had, but everybody respects you. Most of us even like you. I think you're kind of amazing,” Jack said, face hot. “But if you think I wouldn't be fucking ecstatic to have someone like you—no, to have _you_ as my soulmate, then you're not the tactical genius I thought you were.” 

The look on Reyes' face was one that told Jack that, were his skin any lighter, he would have been lit up red as Jack probably was. Even then, his cheeks had a rosy color that mostly hid under his beard, and he looked away from Jack to steel himself.

“Jesus, Morrison,” Reyes said, laughing lowly. “The brass told me you were, what was it? Prone to making inspirational speeches like you're in the middle of a war movie,” he chuckled. “I thought it was an exaggeration.” 

Jack sighed. “I just say what I mean when I can,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair, before covering his face in embarrassment. If he ran any hotter, he'd be sweating.

“I'm not... the best at this,” Reyes said. “But I figure if you want it that badly... It's not like you don't deserve the chance. I know this isn't just about me.” 

“It's still your choice, though,” Jack said, his shoulders sagging. “If you really don't want a soulmate, I won't push.” 

“I've wanted a soulmate since I got my mark,” Reyes said, smiling softly, lost in the memory. “I just never thought it'd really happen. I have a hard time connecting. I won't always be the best partner, when it comes down to it. I don't know how.” 

“I can help with that,” Jack said. “Isn't that what soulmates are for?” 

That got a real, warm laugh from Reyes, who shook his head before turning around. Jack's heart seized a moment, thinking that after all that, Reyes would shut the door on him—but instead, he pulled the back of his shirt down to expose the mark on his neck. Jack itched to touch, but asked for permission before brushing his fingers over it, making Reyes shiver.

And when he reached his wrist up to press it against Reyes' mark, the results were far from what Jack expected.

He'd been told, all his life, that touching marks was like coming home, like everything coming to rights. But soul marks were rare. Not so rare that those marked were all treated like celebrities, but it was at least one out of fifty, and those with soul marks were special, especially in smaller communities like Jack had come from. There were only a couple of people at home that had marks, and only one bonded pair that lived nearby. Books and movies had given people this impression that touching marks would be nothing short of magical. But when Jack had asked Jean and Ankita what touching marks felt like, they just smiled knowingly at each other, tapping the side of their brows in unison.

“You'll know when you get there,” Jean had said. 

And what it felt like, at this moment?

It wasn't legendary. It wasn't an explosion of feeling and sound and color. It wasn't bright and bombastic.

It was just... right. He felt his shoulders drop, his breath leave his lungs in a satisfied sigh, and more than that he felt warmth on the back of his neck, just knew that Reyes—Gabriel, Gabe—was smiling even if he wasn't facing in his direction. It felt right. Moreover, Jack felt what Gabe was feeling, knew that Gabe had  _looked on in longing whenever Morrison—Jack, it was Jack—showed his mark, as if he didn't know why Jack was baring it to the world, attention-seeking as he was. He had such an ego, he was so full of himself, and Gabe had to put a cap on that quick, but one thing he didn't want to change about Jack Morrison was that he_ _**cared.** _ _He truly believed in doing right, in saving people, and he was unselfish, he was eager to learn, he was a good man, the best soulmate a man could have, but Gabe couldn't have him—_

Jack drew away, and the connection broke, intense but not jarring, as he turned Gabe by the shoulders to face him. He searched his eyes—still piercing and hard, at least on the surface, but softer, warmer under the surface, and Gabe was looking down at his lips, as if transfixed by their closeness.

He hooked his chin over Gabe's shoulder and held him close, feeling his soft lips brush Jack's ear.

“You can have me,” Jack murmured. “You can have me.”

 

* * *

 

Jack Morrison was, to the world at large, one of their greatest heroes—Strike Commander of Overwatch and hero of the omnic crisis. His face was plastered on every poster, he was being talked about in schools, his hero status was known to all, and it was just about enough to fill his massive ego—or so Gabe described it, a fondness in the thoughts that couldn't be mistaken, even when Gabriel Reyes maintained the look of a man to be feared.

Their bond was old, now, only stronger with age. So full were their hearts and minds of each other that the idea of being parted was unthinkable, and they'd honed their connection more than most bonds, making use of it on the battlefield during the crisis, and after, when they were maneuvering the sometimes more dangerous political landscape that made up the post omnic crisis world.

There was nothing that Jack Morrison knew that Gabriel Reyes didn't, and vice versa. Not only because they were bonded, but because they trusted each other implicitly, having watched each other's backs since leaving the SEP and becoming Strike Commander and his second in the crisis. Their soulmate status was known by most of the soldiers in the program—but most of those soldiers were gone, now, and the only ones who knew Reyes and Morrison were closer than probably any two separate beings in the world were those they knew to trust. Ana and her family knew, as did Reinhardt and Torbjorn, and eventually Jesse McCree, who they both had a soft spot for even when he was no more a child than any who'd seen what he had.

Every plot to pit them against each other failed, though they never made it known. Every attempt to win over one without the other was met with Jack's mind for politics, deflections paired with charming smiles, or Reyes' firm dismissals, the look he'd honed to perfection that made people fear him to this day.

The only problem, however, with knowing everything about each other, was that the knowledge that escaped them both would be what ended them.

 

* * *

 

And yet...

And yet Jack Morrison couldn't regret a second of it, even when he was blind in the ruins of the swiss base, his whole world crumbling around him...

When he felt the touch of Gabe's mind against his own, guiding him to safety.

When he could see every step of Gabe's plot to take Talon down unfold, even as the world thought Overwatch fell on the heels of their hatred. When he kept up the charade of hunting the Reaper when all he was doing was his part, to solidify Gabe's position among Talon's leaders.

Knowing that someday, he could finally touch the other half of his soul, when everything was done.

 

 


End file.
